1ST5.] ^^'^ [aabb. 



protection from tlie latter. Back of the fire-place are ranged tlie cbicha 

 jars, two or three in number. Being round bottomed, they stand on the 

 floor propped up by stones. Scattered around the house ai'e stools or 

 benche?, rarely more than six inches high, each carved out of a solid 

 block of wood. They generally have four feet, though occasionally a 

 small, roughly made one is seen, with but two feet, and which is only 

 kei^t in upright position when somebody is sitting on it. The pots and 

 kettles about the fire are all of American cast iron, and vary in size from 

 less than a quart to ten gallons capacity. Hanging from the barbacue 

 over the smoke, is generally seen a cocoanut shell or a leaf bundle full of 

 salt. It is kept here because it is the only place where it will remain dry. 

 Suspended from the roof are baskets of from one to three cubic feet 

 capacity. They are usually made of a peculiar, very hard, and very flex- 

 ible vine. These are the trunks of the people, and in them are kept their 

 clothing and all of their little personal treasures and ornaments. They are 

 also used for storing corn or other seeds, like baans, the basket, being then 

 lined with leaves to prevent spilling. The women also use them for 

 carrying water calabashes. These are either gourds or the shells of the 

 fruit of the calabash tree, with a small round hole cut in one end. One 

 other use of the baskets is to carry loads when the net bags are scarce. 

 These nets are also often suspended about the house in the pame manner 

 as the baskets. Axes, always of the make of Collins, of Connecticut, 

 and long machetes, either of this or of some inferior make, are to be 

 found in every house. Collins' hardware has gained a permanent reputa- 

 tion among these people, who will give twice as much for a leather 

 handled machete of this brand, as for any other kind. Of other tools, 

 the most noteworthy is a heavy stick sharpened to a chisel edge at one 

 end and beveled on one side. This is used for making holes in planting 

 corn or plantain sprouts, and the edge is used to beat down high grass. 

 It works almost as effectually as a scythe. Hooked sticks for lifting the 

 iron kettles, others cut with short radiating branches at the end, like a 

 five or six pointed star, for stirring chocolate, and paddles for stirring 

 food are always found near the fire. Calabashes and gourds with small 

 holes cut in one end for water bottles, and other calabashes cut in half 

 for drinking cups, are also found in every house. Food usually, and even 

 drink sometimes, are sei'ved in leaves, called in Spanish "platanillo," 

 smaller and tougher, but otherwise resembling those of the plantain. 

 These are dexterously folded so as to hold a quart or more of fluid with- 

 out spilling. 



Of arms, besides the inevitable machete and very good double-barreled 

 guns, they possess hows made of a very tough kind of palm wood. They 

 are straight and usually about five feet long. The string is made of the 

 finer kind of agave fibre. The arrows are of three kinds. All have a 

 butt two and a half to three feet long, made from the light flower stalk 

 of the wild cane. This is a mass of pith, with a thin hard shell on the 

 outside, giving the requisite stiffness. They are not feathered. The 



A. p. S. — VOL. XIV. 3o 



